Really loved the review that David Oliver wrote on this trick in the April issue. This is a strong item, and I agree that the clear sleeve is definately not needed. There was only one area that David might have commented on was the "three pages of illustrated instructions." Yes, there were some illustrations, but the instructions that I received were entirely in Japanese. Perhaps the instructions that he received were different. Great trick though...just play around with it first before performing (as all good magic should be).

As Bob stated above, I too loved David Oliver's writeup on this ingenius trick. I have had mine now for three years after seeing it performed at the Desert Seminar. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it and agree that is doesn't need the sleeve to be effective. I have passed it out for visual inspection at the local club and half of the folks could not detect how it was done. This gives testimony to Masuda's ingenius device. My instructions were in English and very well explained. There was also the bonus instructions for use with a card trick. I was glad to see David's story line and it now gives this gem a new spin on it's presentation. I highly recommend it for anyone who does closeup work.